PYGALGIA

[Dr. Goodword]

• pygalgia •

Pronunciation: pi-gæl-jee-yê • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A pain in the behind.

Notes: Today's Good Word is another that needs to be rescued from the exclusive domain of the medical profession. At least as many pains in the butt are found outside the health care system as inside it, so why confine this word in the world of 'doctorese'? The adjective is pygalgic and the adverb, of course, pygalgically.

In Play: Here is a word that only doctors and Good Word readers will know, so you only need to be careful using it around these two elite groups: "Owen Cash is such a pygalgia, trying to borrow money all the time!" Today's word is one more piece of artillery in alphaDictionary's constant struggle against profanity: "What a pygalgia that Jess Beaman is, smiling and cracking jokes at his brother's funeral."

Word History: Today's word was invented by the ancient Greeks by putting together pyge "buttocks" + algia "pain". Pyge apparently came from an earlier verb that meant "blow out", for it shows up in words in several languages meaning "wind" and "storm". We won't pursue that stinky route. Algia shows up in many English words, such as analgesic "pain-killer" from a(n) "no, not, un-" + algia "pain" + -ic, an adjective-noun suffix. There is an algia for almost every anatomical region, such as odontalgia "toothache", gastralgia "stomach-ache", and cephalalgia "headache". Nostalgia comes from Greek nostos "return home" + algia.

[sluggo]

Surely this can also refer to what comes of hanging too long around Place Pigalle, non?

[melissa]

Sorry, I misread 'doctorese' as doctorrhoea ... same thing really, but in this case cleverer than most of what issues from their anterior stoma.

@Sluggo, Pl. Pigalle can be fun if you enjoy the odd Brit-on-holiday scene, but you could say the same about most of Paris (hey I love it and love to snark) and Montmartre cafés will always end the night with 'go to Pigalle ok?'
-meli

[sluggo]

Sorry, I misread 'doctorese' as doctorrhoea ... same thing really, but in this case cleverer than most of what issues from their anterior stoma.

@Sluggo, Pl. Pigalle can be fun if you enjoy the odd Brit-on-holiday scene, but you could say the same about most of Paris (hey I love it and love to snark) and Montmartre cafés will always end the night with 'go to Pigalle ok?'
-meli

Actually I think doctorrhoea is an appropriate term, At work I just about swim in it. My favorite thing is watching them strain to remember to say utilize instead of use.

It's been years OK decades since I've been there, but for me Pigalle was as different from Paris as New Orleans is from Chicago.

[melissa]

watching them strain to remember to say utilize instead of use

yes. sadly every language is in a sense like a nation.[/quote]

[melissa]

and Pigalle is as you say, Chicago to New Orleans or Philly to New York, fun. Sadly New York is not as degenerate as it used to be.

[Bailey]

. Sadly New York is not as degenerate as it used to be.

maybe you are just more used to its decadance? try spending a few days in Kansas and see.

mark skeptical Bailey

[gailr]

maybe you are just more used to its decadance? try spending a few days in Kansas and see.

mark skeptical Bailey

Please clarify; I've transitted Kansas a couple times and don't remember it as the high point of the trip. Kinda like Nebraska, in that regard. And Oklahoma. What did we miss?


Bailey, I affectionately recommend against the chimp + skeptic guise if you're passing anywhere near a Kansas school...

[Bailey]

Please clarify; I've transitted Kansas a couple times and don't remember it as the high point of the trip. Kinda like Nebraska, in that regard. And Oklahoma. What did we miss?

exactly!

mB

[gailr]

OK - got it! Thanks.

[skinem]

I think I now have a new surcharge to add to any of my bills I send, if necessary--
"...and that'll be an additional $250 for pygalgia."
Yeah, I can pull that off!